“Handbuch zur Geschichte Südosteuropas”: Volume 3 Out Now

The third volume of the “Handbuch zur Geschichte Südosteuropas”, compiled by the IOS, has been published by De Gruyter Oldenbourg. Edited by Konrad Clewing (IOS, Regensburg) and Hannes Grandits (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin), the volume entitled “Staatlichkeit und Politik in Südosteuropa nach 1800” (Statehood and Politics in Southeastern Europe after 1800) concludes the broad thematic focus on rule, statehood and politics in Southeastern Europe covering over 2000 years of history – from Roman antiquity to the present.

The Handbook is set to comprise a total of seven volumes, with the other main thematic foci being “Language and Culture” and “Economy and Society”. This internationally unique project is coordinated by the IOS, which has been able to attract around 90 renowned academics from various countries and disciplines as authors.

The third volume deals in ten sections with the transformation of the Southeast European states on their way to “modernity” and up to the present day. The focus is not only on the striking changes and upheavals caused by crises and war. Closely linked to this are also reform projects and adapted power structures and relationships, which are presented in both an internal and international context.

This volume introduces the history of the parts of the region that were imperial until the First World War, as well as additional forms of national statehood, when the nation-state principle gained a foothold as a system of order in the 19th and 20th centuries and reshaped a largely multi-ethnic landscape. In doing so, the authors depict connections across epochs and bring together the inconsistent research knowledge within and outside the region. The work is supplemented, among other things, by a 180-page bibliography, numerous maps, lists of rulers and a concordance of place names. The region is thus also made accessible in its historical depth for those interested in politics.

The next volume will be on “Economy and Society in South-Eastern Europe after 1800”. Selected contributions from the seven planned volumes as well as numerous maps are already available in the accompanying “Online Handbook on the History of Southeast Europe”(www.hgsoe.ios-regensburg.de).

Handbuch zur Geschichte Südosteuropas. Bd. 3: Staatlichkeit und Politik in Südosteuropa nach 1800. Herausgeber: Konrad Clewing/Hannes Grandits. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2024. XVIII, 1164 Seiten. ISBN 9783110799934. 189,95 Euro.

Review copies can be requested here.